Would methanol formed from CO2 from the atmosphere give the advantage of hydrogen at lesser cost?

Our energy situation is called precarious because of the frequent changes in reports on the date of Hubert's peak and the danger of oncoming global warming. Further, there is the several decades needed to build a new system of energy production and distribution. This paper describes various likely methods which we could use. It concludes that methanol synthesized from hydrogen and CO2 removed from the atmosphere allows this substance to be used in our situation with zero net CO2 results. It would then remove the problem of the cost of storage, transportation and reconversion to electricity which hangs on to the use of hydrogen itself. On the other hand its use would provide, in practice, a ''liquid form'' of hydrogen. (author)